Page 45 of Let It Be Me
“And see the lights through the window? No way,” she protests. “I’m fine out here for a bit longer.” She tells me and I don’t miss her chattering teeth.
I shake my head and pull her in front of me and wrap my arms around her. Her body shakes from the chill and my body heat mixes for the first few seconds before she twines her hands around my arms.
“Better?” I ask when she’s breathing steadier.
“Yeah. Thank you.” Sarah tells me and rests her body back against me with her head falling back to my shoulder. Even in her heeled boots she barely comes to my chin and I like that I can dwarf her in size. It’s like I can be her protector no matter what.
We stay like this, locked around each other watching the lights as they dance through the sky with cheerful laughter from kids still running along the shore. Soon, families disappear one by one until only us and a few couples are left. Exhaustion slams into me and I can’t hold back the yawn that escapes from my throat.
“Are you ready to head back?” I ask.
I peek around and see her eyes at half-mast as well. “Yeah. Let’s go.” Sarah steps away from me and wanders tothe passenger side. I follow closely behind and beat her to the door to open it for her. She gives me a tired smile, before climbing to her seat. I round the back of the car and see the last car pull out of the lot.
Today was a whirlwind. And as I drive home, I hope that coming out here tonight was another tick in the ‘pro’ column to why Sarah and I could be a good match. The adventure and ease at which we exist together is why the fake dating doesn’t feel fake anymore.
17
SARAH
“Surprise!” and “Congratulations!” are thrown out when Kamryn and Mason walk into Sotto’s that night. I rush to my bestie and hug her with all of my strength.
“I can’t believe you two are finally engaged,” I cry.
We all knew this was going to happen. The girls and I helped Mason set up his proposal at the house he recently bought. Not only was the house a surprise, because Kamryn is tough to get anything past, but the engagement was something that I predicted in college.
“You all are masters at keeping things from me,” Kamryn points out. I know that’s a subtle dig at the way Emily hid Adam.
“I thought we moved on from that?” I question quietly.
Emily and Adam hit a rough patch recently and have taken some time apart. It’s been hard seeing her fall back into her shell, but I know for a fact they’ll find their way back to one another. It’s just that Emily needs to work through her own baggage before she finally hands herself over to him.
“Sorry. We have,” Kamryn says. Mason comes over and Igive him a hug as well. They share a look that they seem to only know what that means and suddenly I’m nervous.
“What?”
“We know it’s early.” Mason starts and wraps his arm around Kamryn’s waist. “But, we’d like, actually we’d love, for you to be the one to marry us.”
“What?” I ask again as tears form.
“Sarah, you’ve been our number one champion for ten years. You’re the only person we could think of to see us get our happily ever after.”
“Yes. I would love to,” I say through my tears before I’m engulfed in a hug from my friends.
“We’ll talk about the date later. But you marrying us would mean the world to us.” With a final hugging squeeze, they move on to celebrate with more friends and family.
I take a moment to compose myself before wandering over to the open bar and snag a glass of champagne.
“I see they asked you?” Emily asks as she slides next to me at the bar.
“You knew?”
“Of course I did. It was only right that you marry them off.” She says with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes.
“Are you okay?”
She shakes her head and looks at me with glassy eyes. “No. But I will be.”
Emily backs away from the bar and I watch as her retreating form is swallowed by Kamryn and Mason’s guests. I feel for her. And while I understood her reason for breaking things off with Adam, I’d never seen her more alive than with him. Granted, I didn’t know her during her James phase. But Emily blossomed during her time with Adam.
